Drumhead construction



c. P. CORDES DRUM HEAD CONSTRUCTION Original Filed May a, 1944 Inventor Charles P Cordes Patented Oct. 3, 1950 UNI T E D S TATEIS ENT OF F .l'C E 2,524,592 DfiUMHEAD CQNSTRUCTION Charles P. (lei-dos, Hillside, N. J.

Original application May V3, .1944, .-.Se rial No. 533,878. Divided and this applioationAprillS, 1947, Serial No. 742,284

.2 Claims.

.1 This invention relates to the head construction-pf percussion drums, and the present application'is a division of my pending applica tionSerial No. 533,878, filed May 3, 1944, .now

Patent No. 2,433,200.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved flesh hoop for drums of theabove kind.

.Another object is to provide an improved flesh hoop, and a thrust ring coacting in a novel manner with said flesh hoop to effectively retain the edge of the skin about the latter.

The exact nature of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary central longitudinal sectional view, partly broken away, of one end portion of a percussion drum having a head construction embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the flesh hoop forrm ing part of the head construction shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 indicates the shell of a snare drum. One end of the shell 5 is inwardly offset at 6, or externally reduced in diameter, to provide the reduced end portion 1 and an external annular shoulder 8 at the inner end of the reduced end portion l. Snuggly fitted on the reduced end portion i is a ring 9 that has an external thread at 9a. The ring 9 is seated flatly on the shoulder 8 and may be secured to the shell 5 by means of screws l passing through the ring 9 and threaded into the shell 5. A retaining hoop having an internal screw thread ||a is screwed at its inner portion upon the threaded ring 9 so as to be adjustable longitudinally of the shell 5, and this retaining hoop has an annular inwardly projecting flange l2 at its outer end. The inner portion of flange I2 is preferably inclined inwardly as shown clearly in Figure 1.

A tensioning ring I3 is threaded in the outer portion of the retaining hoop H and has its outer periphery provided with external gear teeth l4 so that it also constitutes a ring gear. The inner portion of the outer face of tensioning ring I3 is also preferably inclined inwardly as at 3a, the same as the flange !2 of hoop ll. At a suitable point circumferentially thereof, the retaining hoop II is provided with a transverse hollow rib |5 having a cylindrical bore I6 parallel with the axis of shell 5 and in which is journaled a pinion l8. As disclosed-in my above-mentioned -patent,the pinion l8 meshes with the teeth M of tensioning ring 13,: and the thread grooves. I! of ring l3 intersect the teeth of the'latter. 'The end portion ;of shell is in spacedrelation to theretaining hoop so as to provide an annular space therebetween. Disposed in this annular space inwardly of the tensioning ring .I 3 .is a flesh hoop 2|] consisting of an annularchannel of substantiallyxv-shape in crosssection and having inturned flanges 2 along the free edges thereof. The usual skin disc or sheet 2| is stretched over the end of the reduced portion 1 of shell 5 and has its marginal portion wrapped about the flesh hoop with its free marginal portion 20 tucked into the channel of hoop 20 through the open outer side of the latter. It will be noted that an annular space 22' is provided between the flanges 2i, and that the skin is extended across this space, then downwardly, inwardly and outwardly about the hoop 20, the margin 20' of the skin being finally extended over the inner one of the flanges 2| and beneath the adjacent portion of the skin before being tucked into the channel of hoop 20 as described.

Disposed between the tensioning ring l3 and the hoop 20 is a thin thrust ring 22 having a central inward annular corrugation 23 which is slightly narrower than and arranged to register with the opening or space 22' in the outer side of the flesh hoop 20 Bearing balls 24 are carried by the inner surface of tensioning ring l3 and arranged to engage in the groove formed by the corrugation 23 of thrust ring 22. This construction permits free rotation of tensioning ring |3 relative to thrust ring 22 and allows the latter to remain still or to be held stationary by its frictional contact with the adjacent portion of the skin 2| when the said ring I3 is rotated to thread the same inwardly and thereby cause corresponding movement of thrust ring 22 and flesh hoop 20 to place the skin 2| under tension. Obviously, such inward movement of flesh hoop 20 will cause the margin of skin 2| to be stretched over the outer end edge of the end portion 1 of shell 5 until the skin has been properly tensioned. By rotating pinion l8, the tensioning ring I3 may be turned to thread the same inwardly. When this is done, the corrugation 23 of ring 22 forces the adjacent portion of skin 2| into the space 22 of hoop 20, thereby effectively binding and securing the marginal portion of the skin to the flesh hoop. In actual practice, the margin of the skin is preferably wetted, and when it dries the free edge portion 25 thereof will curl up within flesh hoop so that the skin may not readily become detached from the latter. The pinion 18 may have an axial polygonal bore 25 for reception of the square shank of a suitable handle employed for rotating the pinion l8.

As the thrust ring 22 may remain stationary when the tensioning ring 13 is rotated, there is no tendency to cause the skin 2| to rotate with the tensioning ring 13, even though the ring 22 bears upon the skin 2|. Thus, the skin will be drawn evenly at all points so as to be tensioned in a very smooth condition.

From the above description, it will be seen that I have provided a simple and efficient flesh hoop, and that the flesh hoop and thrust ring are so constructed as to coact in a novel manner for effectively retaining the margin of the skin about the flesh hoop.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. In a percussion drum, in combination, a shell, a flesh hoop loosely disposed about the top end of said shell and comprising an annular channel member having spaced edge flanges at the top projecting toward each other, a skin disk stretched over said end of the shell and having its marginal portion extended across the top and then about the sides of said flesh hoop with its free edge portion extended under the adjacent portion of the skin disk and tucked into the flesh hoop between said flanges of the latter, a thrust ring disposed above said flesh hoop and having a central downward annular corrugation engaging the portion of said skin between said flanges of the flesh hoop, and manually operable means carried by said shell for forcing the thrust ring downwardly to correspondingly move the flesh hoop relative to the shell and thereby tension said skin disk.

2. The construction defined in claim 1, wherein said means includes a rotatable tensioning ring disposed above the thrust ring and having bottom bearing balls engaged in said corrugation of the thrust ring.

CHARLES P. CORDES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,009,467 Bryant Nov. 21, 1911 1,326,842 Bower Dec. 30, 1919 1,576,171 Adler Mar. 9, 1926 1,980,876 Peters Nov. 13, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 95,131 Germany Dec. 11, 1897 

